Vienna Coffee Company — Restaurant in Maryville

My Devastated Heart

Here is a sentence I never thought I'd be writing:

My name is Nat, and I am no longer a Vienna Coffeehouse customer.

Yes. Me. Vienna's-biggest-fan me. Spend-three-days-in-a-row-at-Vienna me. Dancing-unashamedly-at-open-mics me. I will never buy another drink from Vienna again.

Though it may sound funny to you, to say my heart is devastated is honestly no exaggeration. I really was Vienna's biggest fan. The coffee house has held a very special place in my heart for years (yes, since Old Vienna). I moved to Maryville, Tennessee in 2012 to attend Maryville College. I showed up to town, not knowing a soul. I had no connections here; I had no car. What a thrilling thing it was to discover a coffee shop within walking distance from my school! What started as a place to drink tea and study soon grew into a place to build community, to make friends. I came (at least) every week for the open mic nights and cheered on the community members I was meeting and the other students I was getting to know. Being in an unfamiliar place and all my fears of not making friends couldn't bother me anymore. I was home.

Later, Vienna moved to its current location. The change was needed. Vienna was just getting too big for that little house on High Street. It was still within walking distance from the college, and they had a stage now for open mic nights! Of course, with these good changes, it seemed Vienna was changing in other not-so-good ways as well. Anyway, one day, I was studying at a table by myself when a man walked up to me and asked me to go out with him. That man is now my husband. And when he went away to join the military, after he got out of training, the homecoming surprise took place at, of course, Vienna. Maybe it's hard for some couples to agree on baby names, but for us, the decision was easy. Our first daughter would be named Vienna.

Here's the thing though, I have spent so much time enjoying the lovely memories I've had at Vienna, and reveling in the idea of Vienna, that I was able to easily let little things slide. Wait times were getting crazy-long. Okay, that one's easy for me to let go. I rarely order anything at Vienna to-go anyway. If I'm at Vienna, I'm at Vienna for a while. Then quality started going down. Some items I remembered as being AMAZING before were just... bleh now (I'm looking at you Rosemary-Potato Quiche). Like, what happened? Vienna used to be known for its quality. Vienna was always "The Best". And we all know Vienna isn't cheap. Okay, so if everything always takes forever, the food isn't good anymore, and it's expensive, why still go, right? Well, Vienna still had one thing going for it. Its amazing staff.

The baristas made the experience. They are the reason I was going to Vienna. If I just wanted coffee and a treat, I'd drive through Starbucks. I went to Vienna because I wanted to say hi to the lovely people who work there. Vienna wasn't great because of coffee; Vienna was great because of people. People who'd show up to work stressed, but smiling, people who were or are trying their best to meet our expectations for Vienna. Take the people out of the equation, and there just aren't any reasons left for me to continue being a...

I am not trying to be mean or vindictive, but seriously, this is the worst-run establishment I have ever seen!

I was surprised, because 2 of my co-workers rave about their chicken salad sandwich, and what a wonderful place this is.

First, the menu on the counter said the sandwich was $9. I asked the girl if it came with chips, and she said "No, but you can make it a combo for... oh, and that makes it $7 dollars (and something). (What? AYKM?)

I asked for a Coke. They only had Diet Coke in cans. (AYKM?) Sooo... I asked for a Sprite. She went to the barista area, got a smallish cup, filled it to the top with ice, then poured Sprite from a 2-liter. Maybe 4-6 ounces.

I also splurged and purchased a piece of lemon-curd cake, for a total of 13-something dollars (*remember this amount, THIRTEEN for the meal). No receipt (AYKM?), or I would give you exact totals.

She asked me to pick chips, and there were only BBQ, Salt and Vinegar, and some other weird flavor. Call me a chip weenie, but isn't 'regular' usually offered everywhere?

The sandwich was brought to my table, and I could see at a glance there was only about 1/4 inch of chicken salad (AYKM?) spread on what 'looked' like a flourescent-yellow croissant. However, the texture and taste would make Gordon Ramsay think up new swear words, and it was so hard and dry that it was impossible to swallow. (AYKM?)

I took one bite, and all I tasted was dry bread (that also tasted nothing like a croissant). After fuming for a minute, I picked up my one-bite lunch and went back to the counter. I asked for my money back (whaaa?!), and they fetched the manager. She took one look at the sandwich, and said "Oh, no, it isn't supposed to look like that. Let me show this to the kitchen." When she returned, she asked if I wanted anything else (AYKM?), and I just asked for my money back.

She couldn't find my order on the little computer, so she asked for my debit card.

The cake was on the counter in a to-go box (they at least got that ONE THING right), and she asked if I wanted it... ummm, after the dry $9 (or was it $7?) sandwich with hardly any filling? No, thank you.

Finally she said, "Okay...", and handed me my card with an apology.

Apology accepted, but... "May I have a receipt? Showing the refund?"

"Oh, no, I can't print you a receipt. It doesn't print." (OMG! A.Y.K.M?!)

"Well... can you at least TELL me how much the refund will be?" Glancing at the screen, she replied, "Oops, no, sorry, it's already gone." ('Gone'? Gone!? AYKM?!)

Trying hard, so hard, not to show my irritation, I said, "Can you at least give me SOME idea of the amount that will be refunded to my account?" Thinking: "Since I obviously have no choice but to take your word for it?"

Manager: "I think it was 15-something dollars."

Are... You... Kidding... Me... Not even a question mark....

Drove up from Knoxville after seeing a post from a friend about this coffee shop. Love the history behind it. This roastery and coffee shop are housed in a beautiful, spacious building with a meeting space and lots of seating throughout. I will say a Saturday morning is very busy as there was quite a line the whole time we were there. Not sure if some of the things we noticed were just to make things move quicker during the busy times or if they're regular practice. Approaching the bar we see a nice sized espresso machine with possibly 4 group-heads. However, shots were being pulled from an automatic system on the back counter. They did use the espresso machine to steam milk themselves. This goes to my wondering if they just use the auto-shot system during busy times and the actually espresso machine during non-busy times, or if it's there just for looks and steaming milk, which seems like such a waste of this size espresso machine. One thing I did note, though, is that they still should be doing quality checks on what their automatic machine is pulling. I'm sure with an automatic machine their thought is that it does everything for you, set it and forget it. I would think that the system would be adjustable to make sure the perfect shot is being pulled. The shots were slightly bitter, though. The cinnamon roll was unremarkable. Being told there was a microwave to heat it up would have been helpful. The up side, though, was their burrito wrap was pretty good. We didn't want to wait in the line to place an order to try the coffee, and then have to wait in the line again if we wanted to buy a bag after trying it. So, we went ahead and grabbed a couple of bags. If we hadn't have done it this way we probably wouldn't have bought bags separately. Hoping the drip at home and manually pulled espresso shots will make a difference, though. All in all, not worth the 30...